1. A
MINI PROJECT REPORT
ON
“RESEARCH ON 1992 SECURITIES SCAM”
For the partial fulfilment of the requirement
for the award of the degree of
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Batch: - 2020-2022
SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:
Dr. Pooja Goel Tripti Kumari
MANGALMAY INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY
GREATER NOIDA (U.P.)
Dr. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW
2. Mangalmay Institute of Management & Technology
AN INSTITUTION OF MANGALMAY FOUNDATION TRUST
Campus: 8 & 9, Knowledge Park – II, Greater Noida (U.P.) Ph: 0120-2320400, 2320401, 2320680
Institution Office: C – 116, Sector – 39, Noida – 201301 (U.P) Ph: 0120-2500381, 2572237, 2570428
E-mail: info@mangalmay.org, Visit us at: www.mangalmay.org
Certificate
This is to certify that Mr/Ms. Tripti Kumari, University Roll No. ..................................is a regular
student of MBA 1st year, and had successfully completed his mini project entitled “RESEARCH ON
1992 SECURITIES SCAM”, for partial fulfillment of the curriculum for the award of the degree of
Master of Business Administration from Dr. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY,
LUCKNOW, is an original work done by him/her.
Dr. Pooja Goal Dr. Shweta Kulshrestha Dr. Tushar Kanti
Supervisor Co-ordinator Director
3. Student Declaration
I TRIPTI KUMARI, bearing University Roll No………………...… Of APJ University,
Lucknow, Enrolled as student of MBA 1st
year at Mangalmay Institute of Management &
Technology, Greater Noida, solemnly declare that the project reporttitled, ‘RESEARCH ON
1992 SCEURITIES SCAM’ embodies the results of original research work carried out by me
and the same has not been submitted in any form partially or fully for award of any diploma or
degree of this or any other University/Institute.
Tripti Kumari
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I want to show my sincere gratitude to all those who made this study possible. One of the most
important tasks in every good study is its critical evaluation and feedback which was performed
by my faculty guide Dr. POOJA GOEL Ma’am. I am very thankful to my Faculty guide for
investing her precious time to discuss and criticize this study in depth, and explained the
meaning of different concepts and how to think when it comes to problem discussions and
theoretical discussions. My sincere thanks go to my Institute and my faculty guide, who
supported and encouraged me.
TRIPTI KUMARI
5. Executive Summary:-
The project deals with the biggest scam in the history of Indian Securities Market. HARSHAD
MEHTA SCAM.
The first chapter deals with the introduction to the STOCK EXCHANGE, in which shows the
exact meaning of stock. It also deals in the working of the stock market and how the stocks are
traded in the stock exchanges.
The second chapter deals with the National Stock Exchange and its existience, how it functions
and what types of regulations are imposed on companies in order to trade in the stock exchange
is concerned.
The third chapter deals with the Origin of Indian Stock Exchange, as and when our stock
market started and history of the stock exchange.
The fourth chapter deals with the regulations of the securities market, deals with SEBI functions
& powers.
Last but not the least, the fifth chapter confronts the actual scam of HARSHAD MEHTA, the
making, the exposur, the history of the concerned person and the end of the culprit.
This project throws the light on the scam of Mr. HARSHAD MEHTA, what exactly was he
trying to do and at what point he ended.
Purpose and Scope of study:-
To analyze the way that how did the scam came into existience and what things have instigate
this man to end up with a huge scam in the history of Indian Stock Market.
Objective :-
To throw a light on the scam.
To know how the legal procedures goes on.
To know about the ultimate outcome of the scam
6. INDEX
SR.
No
CONCEPT PAGE
1 INTRODUCTION TO BOMBAY STOCK EXCHANGE 2
2 INTORDUCTION TO NATIONAL STOCK EXCHANGE 10
3 ORIGIN OF INDIAN STOCK MARKET 14
4 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA (SEBI) 16
5 THE 1992 SECURITIES SCAM 18
6 CONCLUSION 33
7 BIBLOGRAPHY 34
7. CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION TO BOMBAY STOCK EXCHANGE:-
BOMBAY STOCK EXCHANGE:-
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) (Marathi मममममममममममममम Bombay ŚhareBāzaār)
(formerly, The Stock Exchange, Bombay) is a stock exchange located on Dalal Street,
Mumbai and is the oldest stock exchange in Asia. The equity market capitalization of the
companies listed on the BSE was US$1.63 trillion as of December 2010; making it the 4th
largest stock exchange in Asia and the 8th largest in the world The BSE has the largest number
of listed companies in the world.
As of June 2011, there are over 5,085 listed Indian companies and over 8,196 scrips on the stock
exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange has a significant trading volume. The BSE SENSEX,
also called "BSE 30", is a widely used market index in India and Asia. Though many other
exchanges exist, BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India account for the majority of
the equity trading in India. While both have similar total market capitalization (about USD 1.6
trillion), share volume in NSE is typically two times that of BSE.
8. Share Market:
A Share market or Stock market is a private or public market for the trading of company stock
and derivatives of company stock at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock
exchange as well as those only traded privately. The stocks are listed and traded on stock
exchanges which are entities a corporation or mutual organization specialized in the business of
bringing buyers and sellers of the organizations to a listing of stocks and securities together.
Stock market is known as the cradle of capitalism. It is a place where companies come to raise
their share capital and investors go to invest their surplus funds. Stock market essentially
discharges the functions of "the invisible hand" that channels investment into the most
productive ventures so as to optimize the overall productivity of the economy.
Stock Market is a place where financial instruments like shares, debentures, commercial papers,
bonds etc. are bought and sold. Stock markets are popularly known as stock exchanges. There
are many popular stock markets in the world. NASDQ, Tokyo Stock Exchange, London Stock
Exchange are the most popular of the lot. There are many participants in a stock market.
Investors, Speculators, Arbitrators, Traders are different type of participants of a Stock Market.
Brokers are intermediaries who bring together various participants in a Stock Market.
Most important function of the stock market is to facilitate trading of financial instruments.
Brokers submit a quote at the stock market on behalf of their clients. Quotes are specific to the
scrip. The quote of the buyer is matched to the quote of the seller and the transaction takes
place. All transactions entered in a stock market are guaranteed by the Stock Exchange. That
means if the buyer or seller fails to meet his obligation, the stock exchange steps in and meets the
commitment of the participant. This instills a lot of confidence and credibility about the sanctity
of the transaction amongst the investing public. That is the reason why a stock exchange is
preferred by investing public to a gray market in shares even though the latter has much lower
transaction cost.
All the participants in the stock market have the same objective i.e. to make a profit. Investors
invest in the stock market with the hope that market value of their investment will go up and they
will be able to make higher returns than in bank deposits. Arbitrages buy in one market and sell
9. in another market with an objective of making a profit. For example if the shares of Caltex are
quoting at a lesser price at Amsterdam Stock Exchange in comparison to London Stock
Exchange, arbitrages will buy at Amsterdam and sell at London. This will result in a rise in
share price at Amsterdam and fall in share price at London, thus bringing in price equilibrium
among various stock markets in the world.
Speculators operate in the stock market with an objective to make quick money by guessing the
direction of the stock market. If they expect the market to rise, they buy shares with a very small
investment horizon. Similarly if they expect a correction in stock market, they sell shares, thus
imparting an essential element of liquidity in the market. Those who expect a rise in the stock
market and buy relentlessly are known as bulls. Bulls keep the buying pressure and attempt to
take the stock market to dizzy heights. Bull market is a market scenario where bulls have
complete control over the stock markets. When bull market reaches its peak, investors will make
huge profit. Many investors start booking their profit by selling the investments. Slowly the
bulls find that there are more shares than they could perhaps buy in the stock market. When
supply of shares exceeds the demand in the stock market prices start coming down. This is
called correction. Correction is a normal phenomenon in any bull market. Sometimes if the
sellers are huge in numbers, a negative sentiment takes over the stock market. Every one
attempts to sell their investments with an objective to salvage profit or reduce losses. When this
phase set in, bullsloose control. Sellers will control stock market. This phase is popularly
known are bear run. Bull and Bear runs follow a cyclical pattern in a stock market.
Normally in a booming economy, companies make huge profits, so markets tend to be bullish.
When the trend of the economy reverses Stock Market experience a bear hug. Thus the Stock
markets reflect the health if the economy and are often called as "barometers" of the economy.
Stock
Plain and simple, a “stock” is a share in the ownership of a company. A stock represents a claim
on the company's assets and earnings. As you acquire more stocks, your ownership stake in the
company becomes greater.
10. (Note: Sometimes different words like shares, equity, stocks etc. are used. All these
words mean the same thing.)
Shares in the Share Market are either traded through
(a) Stock Exchange
(b) Over-the -Counter (OTC)
(a) Stock Exchange
These are organized market places where stocks, bonds are other equivalents are traded between
the buyers and sellers where exchange acts as a counter-party to both the participants in case of
any default. The contracts are standardized and not customized ones. For example, NYSE,
NASDAQ, NSE, NIKKEI, etc.
(b) Over-the -Counter (OTC)
These are not centralized exchanges. Here, the trade takes place through a network of dealers.
Generally, the OTC contracts are bilateral customized contracts and not standardized ones.
Important Participants of Share Market Trading are:-
Buyer An investor who buys a script in the belief that the market will rise. If his hinge becomes
right then he makes profit otherwise he suffers loss.
Seller of a stock sells in the hope that the stock price will go down.
Stock Broker Brokers are persons or firms who execute buy/sell order on behalf of the investors
and charge a commission for rendering the service.
Share Trading are done in three ways
(a)Offline Share Trading
(b)Online Share Trading
11. (c) Open Outcry Trading
(a) Offline Share Trading
In this form of trading the customer either goes to the share broker's place and sits before the
share trading terminal and asks the dealer to place orders in his account. or rings the share
broker, asks the share quotes and other relevant informations, and accordingly places orders over
the phone.
(b) Online Share Trading
The client could avail the share market and could place his order on his own from any place he
wants, provided he has a computer with an Internet connection.
(c) Open Outcry Trading
Here, the investors put their orders through the brokers and these share brokers in turn place and
execute orders on behalf of them on the floor of the exchange. These brokers gather in a
particular place on the trading floor known as Trading Post. There is a person called as the
Specialist present in the trading post who does the matching of the buy and sell orders. This type
of auction method is called Open Outcry Method.
Online Share Trading
Online Share Trading is becoming the order of the day in share trading. Now-a-days one could
hardly see a person going to the stock exchange floor and placing his order. Electronic media has
played an important role in flourishing the share market. In case of online share trading an
investor could place his order from his own house if he has internet connection.
12. There are two types of trading that can be done through online
share trading
Intra-day Trading
Delivery Trading
(1) Intra-day Trading
They enter and exit out of the market like the thief in the night. Traders continuously have a
watch on the market during the trading hours and the moment they see any opportunity arising
they pounce on it for scalping the profit out. These type of trading generally are risky in nature.
They buy and sell stocks during the same day.
Intra day Traders are of two types :-
a. Scalp Traders
b. Momentum Traders
a. Scalp Traders
Investors who perform many trades per day for scalping out small profits out of the bid-ask
spread from each trade are known as scalp traders.
b. Momentum Traders
Investors who pounce on those stocks which move significantly in one direction and book
desired profit are called momentum traders. They do this within a day.
Delivery trading
The investor buys the share for holding purposes. The brokerage charges are a bit more than the
intraday ones. Delivery Traders are:
a.Technical Traders
b. Fundamental Traders
13. c. Swing Traders
a. Technical Traders
They believe that buying/selling signals are present within the graphs and charts of the stock.
b. Fundamental Traders
They perform trade on the basis of study of fact-sheets of the company like historical profit
graph, balance sheet, anticipated earning reports, stock splits, mergers and acquisitions, etc.
c. Swing Traders
They are basically fundamental traders who take delivery of trades for a span of short period
generally more than one day.
In this electronic form of trading, the shares are not in the physical form for their inconvenience
to handle. So, they are now converted to dematerialized form. So, one investor does not have to
worry about the safety of the physical shares because the bought shares get transferred to the
respective D-mat account. Thus, online share trading has helped the investors a lot as it is hassle-
free and time efficient.
For the intraday traders the brokerage costing is minuscule in comparison to the delivery trades.
Number of companies traded in Stock Market:-
The equity market capitalization of the companies listed on the BSE was US$1.63 trillion as of
December 2010, making it the 4th largest stock exchange in Asia and the 8th largest in the world
The BSE has the largest number of listed companies in the world.
As of June 2011, there are over 5,085 listed Indian companies and over 8,196 scrips on the
stock exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange has a significant trading volume.
14. Hours of operation:-
Session Timing
Beginning of the Day Session 8:00 - 9:00
pre-open trading session 9:00 - 9:15
Trading Session 9:15 - 15:30
Position Transfer Session 15:30 - 15:50
Closing Session 15:50 - 16:05
Option Exercise Session 16:05 - 16:35
Margin Session 16:35 - 16:50
Query Session 16:50 - 17:35
End of Day Session 17:30
The hours of operation for the BSE quoted above are stated in terms the local time (i.e. GMT
+5:30) in Mumbai, India. BSE's normal trading sessions are on all days of the week except
Saturday, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance.
15. CHAPTER 2
INTORDUCTION TO NATIONAL STOCK EXCHANGE
NATIONAL STOCK EXCHANGE:-
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) (Hindi ममममममममममममममममममम Rashtriya Śhare
Bāzaār) is a stock exchange located at Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is the 9th largest stock
exchange in the world by market capitalization and largest in India by daily turnover and number
of trades, for both equities and derivative trading. NSE has a market capitalization of
aroundUS$1.59 trillion and over 1,552 listings as of December 2010. Though a number of other
exchanges exist, NSE and the Bombay Stock Exchange are the two most significant stock
exchanges in India, and between them are responsible for the vast majority of share transactions.
The NSE's key index is the S&P CNX Nifty, known as the NSE NIFTY (National Stock
Exchange Fifty), an index of fifty major stocks weighted by market capitalisation.
16. NSE is mutually-owned by a set of leading financial institutions, banks, insurance companies
and other financial intermediaries in India but its ownership and management operate as separate
entities. There are at least 2 foreign investors NYSE Euronext and Goldman Sachs who have
taken a stake in the NSE. As of 2006, the NSE VSAT terminals, 2799 in total, cover more than
1500 cities across India. NSE is the third largest Stock Exchange in the world in terms of the
number of trades in equities. It is the second fastest growing stock exchange in the world with a
recorded growth of 16.6%.
ORIGINS:-
The National Stock Exchange of India was promoted by leading Financial institutions at the
behest of the Government of India, and was incorporated in November 1992 as a tax-paying
company. In April 1993, it was recognized as a stock exchange under the Securities Contracts
(Regulation) Act, 1956. NSE commenced operations in the Wholesale Debt Market (WDM)
segment in June 1994. The Capital market (Equities) segment of the NSE commenced operations
in November 1994, while operations in the Derivatives segment commenced in June 2000.
INNOVATIONS:-
NSE pioneering efforts include:
Being the first national, anonymous, electronic limit order book (LOB) exchange to trade
securities in India. Since the success of the NSE, existent market and new market structures
have followed the "NSE" model.
Setting up the first clearing corporation "National Securities Clearing Corporation Ltd." in
India. NSCCL was a landmark in providing innovation on all spot equity market (and later,
derivatives markets) trades in India.
Co-promoting and setting up of National Securities Depository Limited, first depository in
India
Setting up of S&P CNX NIFTY.
NSE pioneered commencement of Internet Trading in February 2000, which led to the wide
popularization of the NSE in the broker community.
17. Being the first exchange that, in 1996, proposed exchange traded derivatives, particularly on
an equity index, in India. After four years of policy and regulatory debate and formulation,
the NSE was permitted to start trading equity derivatives
Being the first and the only exchange to trade GOLD ETFs (exchange traded funds) in India.
NSE has also launched the NSE-CNBC-TV18 media centre in association with CNBC-TV
18
NSE.IT Limited, setup in 1999, is a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of
India. A Vertical Specialist Enterprise, NSE.IT offers end-to-end Information Technology
(IT) products, solutions and services.
NSE (National Stock Exchange) was the first exchange in the world to use satellite
communication technology for trading, using a client server based system called National
Exchange for Automated Trading (NEAT). For all trades entered into NEAT system, there is
uniform response time of less than one second.
MARKETS:-
Currently, NSE has the following major segments of the capital market:
EQUITY
Futures & Options
Retail Debt Market
Wholesale Debt Market
Currency Futures
Mutual Funds
Stock lending &borrowings
August 2008 Currency derivatives were introduced in India with the launch of Currency Futures
in USD INR by NSE. Currently it has also launched currency futures in EURO, POUND &
YEN. Interest Rate Futures was introduced for the first time in India by NSE on 31 August 2009,
exactly after one year of the launch of Currency Futures.
NSE became the first stock exchange to get approval for Interest rate futures as recommended by
SEBI-RBI committee, on 31 August 2009, a futures contract based on 7% 10 Year GOI bond
(NOTIONAL) was launched with quarterly maturities.
18. HOURS:-
NSE's normal trading sessions are conducted from 9:15 am India Time to 3:30 pm India Time on
all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and Official Holidays declared by the Exchange
(or by the Government of India) in advance. The exchange, in association with BSE (Bombay
Stock Exchange Ltd.), is thinking of revising its timings from 9.00 am India Time to 5.00 pm
India Time.
There were System Testing going on and opinions, suggestions or feedback on the New
Proposed Timings are being invited from the brokers across India. And finally on 18 November
2009 regulator decided to drop their ambitious goal of longest Asia Trading Hours due to strong
opposition from its members.
On 16 December 2009, NSE announced that it would advance the market opening to 9:00 am
from 18 December 2009. So NSE trading hours will be from 9.00 am till 3:30 pm India Time.
However, on 17 December 2009, after strong protests from brokers, the Exchange decided to
postpone the change in trading hours till 4 Jan 2010. NSE new market timing from 4 Jan 2010 is
9:00 am till 3:30 pm India Time.
19. CHAPTER-3
ORIGIN OF INDIAN STOCK MARKET
HISTORY:-
The Bombay Stock Exchange is the oldest exchange in Asia. It traces its history to the 1850s,
when four Gujarati and one Parsi stockbroker would gather under banyan trees in front of
Mumbai's Town Hall. The location of these meetings changed many times, as the number of
brokers constantly increased. The group eventually moved to Dalal Street in 1874 and in 1875
became an official organization known as 'The Native Share & Stock Brokers Association'. In
1956, the BSE became the first stock exchange to be recognized by the Indian Government under
the Securities Contracts Regulation Act. The Bombay Stock Exchange developed the BSE
SENSEX in 1986, giving the BSE a means to measure overall performance of the exchange. In
2000 the BSE used this index to open its derivatives market, trading SENSEX futures contracts.
The development of SENSEX options along with equity derivatives followed in 2001 and 2002,
expanding the BSE's trading platform. Historically an open outcry floor trading exchange, the
Bombay Stock Exchange switched to an electronic trading system in 1995. It took the exchange
only fifty days to make this transition. This automated, screen-based trading platform called BSE
On-line trading (BOLT) currently has a capacity of 8 million orders per day. The BSE has also
introduced the world's first centralized exchange-based internet trading system, BSEWEBx.co.in
to enable investors anywhere in the world to trade on the BSE platform. The BSE is currently
housed in PhirozeJeejeebhoy Towers at Dalal Street, Fort area.
INDICES:-
The launch of SENSEX in 1986 was later followed up in January 1989 by introduction of BSE
National Index (Base: 1983-84 = 100). It comprised 100 stocks listed at five major stock
exchanges in India - Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Madras. The BSE National Index
was renamed BSE-100 Index from October 14, 1996 and since then, it is being calculated taking
into consideration only the prices of stocks listed at BSE. BSE launched the dollar-linked version
of BSE-100 index on May 22, 2006. BSE launched two new index series on 27 May 1994: The
'BSE-200' and the 'DOLLEX-200'. BSE-500 Index and 5 sector alindices were launched in1999.
20. In 2001, BSE launched BSE-PSU Index, DOLLEX-30 and the country's first free-float based
index - the BSE TECk Index. Over the years, BSE shifted all its indices to the free-float
methodology (except BSE-PSU index). BSE disseminates information on the Price-Earnings
Ratio, the Price to Book Value Ratio and the Dividend Yield Percentage on day-to-day basis of
all its major indices. The values of all BSE indices are updated on real time basis during market
hours and displayed through the BOLT system, BSE website and news wire agencies. All BSE
Indices are reviewed periodically by the BSE Index Committee. This Committee which
comprises eminent independent finance professionals frames the broad policy guidelines for the
development and maintenance of all BSE indices. The BSE Index Cell carries out the day-to-day
maintenance of all indices and conducts research on development of new indices. SENSEX is
significantly correlated with the stock indices of other emerging markets
The graph of SENSEX from July 1990 to March 2020
AWARDS:-
The World Council of Corporate Governance has awarded the Golden Peacock Global CSR
Award for BSE's initiatives in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
The Annual Reports and Accounts of BSE for the year ended March 31, 2006 and March 31,
2007 have been awarded the ICAI awards for excellence in financial reporting.
21. The Human Resource Management at BSE has won the Asia - Pacific HRM awards for its
efforts in employer branding through talent management at work, health management at work
and excellence in HR through technology.
SENSEX Archives
For the period From Year 1990 to Year 2021
22. CHAPTER-4
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA (SEBI)
Introduction
SEBI is the Regulator for the Securities Market in India. Originally set up by the Government of
India in 1988, it acquired statutory form in 1992 with SEBI Act 1992 being passed by the Indian
Parliament. Chaired by C B Behave, SEBI is headquartered in the popular business district of
Bandra-Kurla complex in Mumbai, and has Northern, Eastern and Southern regional offices in
New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. It is in the news that a new Western Regional Office has been
proposed at Ahmedabad.
Function of SEBI
SEBI has to be responsive to the needs of three groups, which constitute the market:
The issuers of securities
The investors
The market intermediaries.
SEBI has three functions rolled into one body quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial and quasi-
executive. It drafts regulations in its legislative capacity, it conducts investigation and
enforcement action in its executive function and it passes rulings and orders in its judicial
capacity. Though this makes it very powerful, there is an appeals process to create
accountability. There is a Securities Appellate Tribunal which is a three member tribunal and is
presently headed by a former Chief Justice of a High court - Mr. Justice NK Sodhi. A second
appeal lies directly to the Supreme Court.
SEBI has enjoyed success as a regulator by pushing systemic reforms aggressively and
successively (e.g. the quick movement towards making the markets electronic and paperless
rolling settlement on T+2 basis). SEBI has been active in seting up the regulations as required
under law.
23. Objectives of SEBI:-
Primary objectives: to promote healthy & orderly growth of securities market & protect
investors.
To maintain steady flow of savings into capital markets.
To regulate securities market & ensure fair practice by issuers to help them raise
resources at minimum cost.
To promote efficient services by brokers, merchant bankers and other intermediaries to
make them professional and competitive.
Powers of SEBI:-
To call periodical returns from recognized stock exchanges
To ask explanation from recognised stock exchanges / their members
To direct enquiries on any stock exchange
To make / amend by laws of recognized stock exchanges
To compel listing of securities by public companies
To control * regulate stock exchanges
To levy fees or charges for carrying out the purpose of regulations
To declare applicability of Sec 17 of Securities contract (Regulation) Act to grant
licenses to dealers of securities.
25. HISTORY:-
Harshad Mehta was an Indian stockbroker caught in a scandal beginning in 1992. He died of a
massive heart attack in 2001, while the legal issues were still being litigated. Early life Harshad
Shantilal Mehta was born in a Gujarati Jain family of modest means. His father was a small
businessman. His mother's name was Rasilaben Mehta. His early childhood was spent in the
industrial city of Bombay. Due to indifferent health of Harshad’s father in the humid environs of
Bombay, the family shifted their residence in the mid-1960s to Raipur, then in Madhya Pradesh
and currently the capital of Chhattisgarh state. An Amul advertisement of1999 during the
conterversy over MUL saying it as "The Big Bhool" (Bhool in Hindi means Blunder) He studied
at the Holy Cross High School, located at Byron Bazaar. After completing his secondary
education Harshad left for Bombay. While doing odd jobs he joined Lala Lajpat Rai College for
a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce.
After completing his graduation, Harshad Mehta started his working life as an employee of the
New India Assurance Company. During this period his family relocated to Bombay and his
brother Ashwin Mehta started to pursue graduation course in law at Lala Lajpat Rai College. His
youngest brother Hitesh is a Practicing surgeon at the B.Y.L.Nair Hospital in Bombay. After his
graduation Ashwin joined (ICICI) Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India. They
had rented a small flat in Ghatkopar for living. In the late seventies every evening Harshad and
Ashwin started to analyze tips generated from respective offices and from cyclostyled investment
letters, which had made their appearance during that time. In the early eighties he quit his job
and sought a job with stock broker P. Ambalal affiliated to Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)
before becoming a jobber on BSE for stock broker P.D. Shukla.
In 1981 he became a sub-broker for stock brokers J.L. Shah and Nandalal Sheth. After a while he
was unable to sustain his overbought positions and decided to pay his dues by selling his house
with consent of his mother Rasilaben and brother Ashwin. The next day Harshad went to his
brokers and offered the papers of the house as guarantee. The brokers Shah and Sheth were
moved by his gesture and gave him sufficient time to overcome his position. After he came out
of this big struggle for survival he became stronger and his brother quit his job to team with
Harshad to start their venture GrowMore Research and Asset Management Company Limited.
26. While a broker’s card at BSE was being auctioned, the company made a bid for the same with
financial assistance from Shah and Sheth, who were Harshad's previous broker mentors. He rose
and survived the bear runs, this earned him the nickname of the Big Bull of the trading floor, and
his actions, actual or perceived, decided the course of the movement of the Sensex as well as
scrip-specific activities. By the end of eighties the media started projecting him as "Stock Market
Success", "Story of Ragsto Riches" and he too started to fuel his own publicity. He felt proud of
this accomplishment and showed off his success to journalists through his mansion "Madhuli",
which included a billiards room, mini theatre and nine whole golf courses. His brand new Toyota
Lexus and a fleet of cars gave credibility to his show off. This in no time made him the
nondescript broker to super star of financial world. During his heyday, in the early 1990s,
Harshad Mehta commanded a large resource of funds and finances as well as personal wealth.
The fall In April 1992, the Indian stock market crashed, and Harshad Mehta, the person who was
all along considered as the architect of the Bull Run was blamed for the crash. It transpired that
he had manipulated.
The Indian banking systems to siphon off the funds from the banking system, and used the
liquidity to build large positions in a select group of stocks. When the scam broke out, he was
called upon by the banks and the financial institutions to return the funds, which in turn set into
motion a chain reaction, necessitating liquidating and exiting from the positions which he had
built in various stocks. The panic reaction ensued,and the stock market reacted and crashed
within days. He was arrested on June 5, 1992 for his role in the scam.
His favorite stocks included.
ACC
Apollo Tyres
Reliance
Tata Iron and Steel Co. (TISCO)
BPL
Sterlite
Videocon.
The extent The Harshad Mehta induced security scam, as the media sometimes termed it,
adversely affected at least 10 major commercial banks of India, a number of foreign banks
27. operating in India, and the National Housing Bank, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India,
which is the central bank of India.
As an aftermath of the shockwaves which engulfed the Indian financial sector, a number of
people holding key positions in the India's financial sector were adversely affected, which
included arrest and sacking of K.M. Margabandhu, then CMD of the UCO Bank; removal from
office of V. Mahadevan, one of the Managing Directors of India’s largest bank, the State Bank of
India. The end The Central Bureau of Investigation which is India’s premier investigative agency
was entrusted with the task of deciphering the modus operandi and the ramifications of the scam.
Harshad Mehta was arrested and investigations continued for a decade.
During his judicial custody, while he was in Thane Prison, Mumbai, he complained of chest
pain, and was moved to a hospital, where he died on 31st December 2001. His death remains a
mystery. Some believe that he was murdered ruthlessly by an underworld nexus (spanning
several South Asian countries including Pakistan). Rumor has it that they suspected that part of
the huge wealth that Harshad Mehta commanded at the height of the 1992 scam was still in safe
hiding and thought that the only way to extract their share of the 'loot' was to pressurize
Harshad's family by threatening his very existence. In this context, it might be Noteworthy that a
certain criminal allegedly connected with this nexus had inexplicably surrendered just days after
Harshad was moved to Thane Jail and landed up in imprisonment in the same jail, in the cell next
to Harshad Mehta's.
Harshad Shantilal Mehta was born in a Gujarati Jain family of modest means. His early
childhood was spent in Mumbai where his father was a small-time businessman. Later, the
family moved to Raipur in Madhya Pradesh after doctors advised his father to move to a drier
place on account of his indifferent health.
But Raipur could not hold back Mehta for long and he was back in the city after completing his
schooling, much against his father’s wishes. Mehta first started working as a dispatch clerk in the
New India Assurance Company. Over the years, he got interested in the stock markets and along
with brother Ashwin, who by then had left his job with the Industrial Credit and Investment
Corporation of India, started investing heavily in the stock market. As they learnt the ropes of the
trade, they went from boom to bust a couple of times and survived. Mehta gradually rose to
become a stock broker on the Bombay Stock Exchange, who did very well for himself. At his
28. peak, he lived almost like a movie star in a 15,000 square feet house, which had a swimming
pool as well as a golf patch. He also had a taste for flashy cars, which ultimately led to his
Downfall. Newsmakers of the week: View Slideshow “The year was 1990. Years had gone by
and the driving ambitions of a young man in the faceless crowd had been realized. Harshad
Mehta was making waves in the stock market. He had been buying shares heavily since the
beginning of 1990. The shares which attracted attention were those of Associated Cement
Company (ACC),” write the authors. The price of ACC was bid upto Rs 10,000. For those who
asked, Mehta had the replacement cost theory as an explanation. The theory basically argues that
old companies should be valued on the basis of the amount of money which would be
required to create another such company. Through the second half of 1991, Mehta was the
darling of the business media and earned the sobriquet of the ‘Big Bull’, who was said to have
started the Bull Run. But, where was Mehta getting his endless supply of money from? Nobody
had a clue.
On April 23, 1992, journalist Sucheta Dalal in a column in The Times of India exposed the
dubious ways of Harshad Mehta. The broker was dipping illegally into the banking system to
finance his buying. “In 1992, when I broke the story about the Rs 600 crore that he had swiped
from the State Bank of India, it was his visits to the bank’s headquarters in a flashy Toyota
Lexus that was the tip-off. Those days, the Lexus had just been launched in the international
market and importing it cost a neat package,” Dalal wrote in one of her columns later. The
authors explain: “The crucial mechanism through which the scam was effected was the ready
forward (RF) deal. The RF is in essence a secured short-term (typically 15-day) loan from one
bank to another. Crudely put, the bank lends against government securities just as a pawnbroker
lends against jewellery….The borrowing bank actually sells the securities to the lending bank
and buys them back at the end of the period of the loan, typically at a slightly higher price.”It
was this ready forward deal that Harshad Mehta and his cronies used with great success to
channel money from the banking system. A typical ready forward deal involved two banks
brought together by a broker in lieu of a commission. The broker handles neither the cash nor the
securities, though that wasn’t the case in the lead-up to the scam. “In this settlement process,
deliveries of securities and payments were made through the broker. That is, the seller handed
over the securities to the broker, who passed them to the buyer, while the buyer gave the cheque
to the broker, who then made the payment to the seller.
29. In this settlement process, the buyer and the seller might not even know whom they had traded
with, either being known only to the broker.” This the brokers could manage primarily because
by now they had become market makers and had started trading on their account. To keep up a
semblance of legality, they pretended to be undertaking the transactions on behalf of a bank.
Another instrument used in a big way was the bank receipt (BR). In a ready forward deal,
securities were not moved back and forth in actuality. Instead, the borrower, i.e. the seller of
securities, gave the buyer of the securities a BR. As the authors write, a BR
“Confirms the sale of securities. It acts as a receipt for the money received by the selling bank.
Hence the name - bank receipt. It promises to deliver the securities to the buyer. It also states that
in the mean time, the seller holds the securities in trust of the buyer.” Having figured this out,
Metha needed banks, which could issue fake BRs, or BRs not backed by any government
securities. “Two small and little known banks -the Bank of Karad (BOK) and the Metorpolitan
Co-operative Bank (MCB) - came in handy for this purpose.These banks were willing to issue
BRs as and when required, for a fee,” the authors point out.
Once these fake BRs were issued, they were passed on to other banks and the banks in turn gave
money to Mehta, obviously assuming that they were lending against government securities when
this was not really the case. This money was used to drive up the prices of stocks in the stock
market. When time came to return the money, the shares were sold for a profit and the BR was
retired. The money due to the bank was returned.The game went on as long as the stock prices
kept going up, and no one had a clue about Mehta’s modusoperandi. Once the scam was
exposed, though, a lot of banks were left holding BRs which did not have any value - the
banking system had been swindled of a whopping Rs 4,000 crore. Mehta made a brief come back
as a stock market guru, giving tips on his own website as well as a weekly newspaper column.
This time around, he was in cahoots with owners of a few companies and recommended only
those shares. This game, too, did not last long. Interestingly, however, by the time he died,
Mehta had been convicted in only one of the many cases filed against him.
30. The making of the 1992 security scam:-
Mehta, along with his associates, was accused of manipulating the rise in the Bombay Stock
Exchange (BSE) in 1992. They took advantage of the many loopholes in the banking system and
drained off funds from inter-bank transactions. Subsequently, they bought huge amounts of
shares at a premium across many industry verticals causing the Sensex to rise dramatically.
However, this was not to continue. The exposure of Mehta's modus operandi led banks to start
demanding their money back, causing the Sensex to plunge almost dramatically as it had risen.
Mehta was later charged with 72 criminal offences while over 600 civil action suits were filed
against him. Significantly, the Harshad Mehta security scandal also became the flavor of
Bollywood with Sameer Hanchate's film Gafla.
Huge Financial Scandal Shakes Indian Politics:-
A $1 billion banking and securities scandal, the largest in India's history, has rapidly spread
through the stock markets and banking system and is now creeping onto the political landscape.
Several major banks, including the State Bank of India, the country's largest, have found
themselves short by hundreds of millions of dollars after making dubious loans to stock
speculators. In addition, one of the country's biggest securities brokers is behind bars, the
chairmen of several banks have been forced to resign and one committed suicide.
Opposition political leaders, saying that the Government is covering up the scandal or at least
allowed it to occur through negligence, are demanding the resignation of the Finance Minister
and the head of the central bank. The Prime Minister, P. V. NarasimhaRao, is fending off his
opponents and has ordered a special court created to try those associated with the scandal. Trying
to Unravel the Fraud.
For two months, investigators have been going through rooms-full of documents, decoding
computer disks and raiding homes and offices, all to try to unravel the extent of the financial
fraud. While they do so, the implications of it all are still uncertain.
31. The investigations led to the filing of charges last week against 10 brokers and bankers,
including Harshad Mehta, Bombay's most flamboyant securities dealer. He is charged with fraud
in buying and selling securities, bribery, using forged documents and conspiracy. Still, the exact
nature and extent of the financial misdeeds and bank losses have not been detailed.
But what is clear is that a half-dozen big banks lent hundreds of millions of dollars to brokers in
unsecured loans to finance speculation in the stock and bond markets. By last week, more than
$1 billion was missing from the ledgers, leaving some of the banks technically insolvent.
While he has not granted interviews about the charges against him, Mr. Mehta sent a letter to the
Central Bureau of Investigation, India's equivalent of the F.B.I., vigorously defending himself.
"Neither I nor any of my companies have done anything in violation of any law," he said in the
letter. "All our transactions have been in accordance with prevailing practice -- a practice which
is by no means secret or clandestine."
Fueled by a buying frenzy, the Bombay Stock Exchange index more than doubled in the last
year. But in late April, news began to spread that Mr. Mehta might have skated beyond even the
fuzzy edges of Indian securities laws to gain control of more than one-third of the State Bank of
India's business in Government securities. That is also when it and other banks were found to be
holding worthless promissory notes for hundreds of millions of dollars. The stock market began
a plunge that has not stopped.
The very size of the scandal, trumpeted daily across the front pages of the country's newspapers,
has created a climate of fear among political leaders and a spirit of vengeance among the
Government's left-wing opposition, which feels betrayed by the yearlong march toward a free-
market economy.
As a result, Mr. Mehta and the others arrested so far have been denied bail and are being forced
to sleep on the cement floor of holding cells in a Bombay police station. A Government directive
has ordered that his assets be confiscated.
When Prime Minister Rao announced the abandonment of the country's long romance with
socialism last year, no one was more delighted than the brokers and traders of the Bombay Stock
Exchange, people who believed that it was finally permissible to make money in India.
32. For months, the customary bedlam of Dalal, or "Trader," Street, site of the stock exchange, has
approached a frenzy resembling a well-shaken beehive. On the exchange floor, the normally
unrestrained blue-jacketed traders have hustled with a new-found ferocity that drove the
exchange index up more than 60 percent in just three months before the decline began. Stuffed
along the exchange's gloomy hallways are touts, tipsters and the tantalized, sweating and pushing
and waving fistfuls of money.
"The problem is not Mehta," said DebashisBasu, a financial writer for Business Today. "This is a
unique time in the economic history of India, when the old control structures are being torn
down. It is always at these moments that scamsters creep out of the woodwork."
The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board, G. V. Ramakrishna, said: "Most players in
the capital markets felt they were beyond regulation. We are now trying to bring about some
sensible regulations of the market in line with other developing countries' capital markets."
The 1992 security scam and its exposure:-
Mehta's illicit methods of manipulating the stock market were exposed on April 23, 1992, when
veteran columnist Sucheta Dalal wrote an article in India's national daily The Times of India.
Dalal’s column read: “The crucial mechanism through which the scam was effected was the
ready forward (RF) deal. The RF is in essence a secured short-term (typically 15-day) loan from
one bank to another. Crudely put, the bank lends against government securities just as a
pawnbroker lends against jewelers. The borrowing bank actually sells the securities to the
lending bank and buys them back at the end of the period of the loan, typically at a slightly
higher price.” In a ready-forward deal, a broker usually brings together two banks for which he is
paid a commission. Although the broker does not handle the cash or the securities, this was not
the case in the prelude to the Mehta scam. Mehta and his associates used this RF deal with great
success to channel money through banks.
The securities and payments were delivered through the broker in the settlement process. The
broker functioned as an intermediary who received the securities from the seller and handed
them over to the buyer; and he received the check from the buyer and subsequently made the
payment to the seller. Such a settlement process meant that both the buyer and the seller may not
33. even know the identity of the other as only the broker knew both of them. The brokers could
manage this method expertly as they had already become market makers by then and had started
trading on their account. They pretended to be undertaking the transactions on behalf of a bank
to maintain a façade of legality.
Mehta and his associates used another instrument called the bank receipt (BR). Securities were
not traded in reality in a ready forward deal but the seller gave the buyer a BR which is a
confirmation of the sale of securities. A BR is a receipt for the money received by the selling
bank and pledges to deliver the securities to the buyer. In the meantime, the securities are held in
the seller’s trust by the buyer.
Where has all the money gone?
It is well known that while Harshad Mehta was the big bull in the stock market, there was an
equally powerful bear cartel, represented by Hiten Dalal, A.D. Narottam and others, operating in
the market with money cheated out of the banks. Since the stock prices rose steeply during the
period of the scam, it is likely that a considerable part of the money swindled by this group
would have been spent on financing the losses in the stock markets.
It is rumored that a part of the money was sent out of India through the Havala racket, converted
into dollars/pounds, and brought back as India Development Bonds. These bonds are redeemable
in dollars/pounds and the holders cannot be asked to disclose the source of their holdings. Thus,
this money is beyond the reach of any of the investigating agencies.
A part of the money must have been spent as bribes and kickbacks to the various accomplices in
the banks and possibly in the bureaucracy and in the political system.
As stated earlier, a part of the money might have been used to finance the losses taken by the
brokers to window-dress various banks' balance sheets. In other words, part of the money
that went out of the banking system came back to it. In sum, it appears that only a small fraction
of the funds swindled is recoverable.
34. Impact of scam:-
Impact of the Scam The immediate impact of the scam was a sharp fall in the share prices. The
index fell from 4500 to 2500 representing a loss of Rs. 100,000 crores in market capitalization.
Since the accused were active brokers in the stock markets, the number of shares which had
passed through their hands in the last one year was colossal. All these shares became
"tainted" shares, and overnight they became worthless pieces of paper as they could
not be delivered in the market. Genuine investors who had bought these shares well before the
scam came to light and even got them registered in their names found themselves being robbed
by the government. This resulted in a chaotic situation in the market since no one was certain as
to which shares were tainted and which were not.
The government & apos; s liberalization policies came under severe criticism after the scam,
with Harshad Mehta and others being described as the products of these policies. Bowing to the
political pressures and the bad press it received during the scam, the liberalization policies were
put on hold for a while by the government. The Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
postponed sanctioning of private sector mutual funds. The much talked about entry of foreign
pension funds and mutual funds became more remote than ever. The Euro-issues planned by
several Indian companies were delayed since the ability of Indian companies to raise equity
capital in world markets was severely compromised.
I-T, PSBs recover dues nine years after Mehta's death
Nine years after Harsad Mehta died, the I-T department and public sector banks (PSBs) have
successfully recovered a significant portion of their claims emerging out of the securities scam
from his liquidated assets. The Supreme Court directed the Custodian of the attached properties
and assets of the Harshad Mehta Group (HMG) in March 2011 to make payments of Rs1,995.66-
crore to the I-T department and Rs 199.25-crore to the State Bank of India (SBI), making the two
institutions two of the earliest claimants to recover their dues.
While the SBI’s total principal amount claim of Rs 1,000-crore have been largely settled,
financial institutions have also received some money. However, Standard Chartered Bank, which
35. had claimed Rs 500-crore, has yet to recover its dues it was one of the late claimants. Although
the total claim over the HMG is of more than Rs 20,000-crore, the apex court has said that for
the present, it would only consider claims towards the principal amount.
IT Recovery
The special court hearing the cases related to the securities scam 1992 involving Harshad Mehta
and others on Friday released Rs 400 crore from the custodian's funds as pending arrears to the
Income-Tax (I-T) department. This puts an end to the 10-year-old legal battle of the I-T
department for the Big Bull's arrears.
Confirming the development, senior IT officials said: "The State Bank of India [SBI] vehemently
opposed the special court's move to release Rs 400 crore to the I-T department in the court." SBI
had reportedly raised a claim of Rs 3,000 crore from the custodian.
Sources in the custodian's office said as per the laid-down rules, the first priority for availing of
the share in the attached property of the notified parties goes to the I-T department under the act
of various government departments. The second priority is given to banks and financial
institutions (FIs).
Both the I-T department and SBI is now making all-out efforts to recover its funds from the
custodian, who looks after the attached properties of the notified parties and is even ready to
strike a compromise on the total interest valuation, which is over Rs 1,500 crore. SBI has already
made provisions for Rs 700 crore in its books.
The bank is also looking for the share of the late Big Bull's real estate, which can
be attached by the custodian to settle the dues of the bank. The I-T department had
filed a suit way back in 1993 in the special court headed by Justice S N Variava. The custodian
has already sold benami shares of Mehta worth Rs 750 crore.
The Associated Cement Company shares will the last in the benami lot after which the custodian
will target the real estate properties of the tainted broker (See ''). According to custodian sources,
36. the sale of the real estate is expected to fetch around Rs 100 crore. All these transactions are
expected to be completed in the next seven to eight months. The majority of the benami shares
have been purchased by FIs and banks (like Life Insurance Corporation and State Bank of India).
The FIs picked these shares at a discounted price compared to the current market price.
END OF THE BIG BULL:-
Mumbai: Just as the year 2001 was coming to an end, Harshad Shantilal Mehta, boss of
Growmore Research and Asset Management, died of a massive heart attack in a jail in Thane.
And thus came to an end the life of a man who is probably the most famous character ever to
have emerged from the Indian stock market. In the book, The Great Indian Scam: Story of the
missing Rs 4,000 crore, Samir K Barua and Jayanth R Varma explain how Harshad Mehta pulled
off one of the most audacious scams in the history of the Indian stock Market.
Outcome:-
Mehta continued with his manipulative tactics, triggering a massive rise in the prices of stock
and thereby creating a feel-good market trajectory. However, upon the exposure of the scam,
several banks found they were holding BRs of no value at all. Mehta had by then swindled the
banks of a staggering Rs 4,000 crore. The scam came under scathing criticism in the Indian
Parliament, leading to Mehta's eventual imprisonment. The scam’s exposure led to the death of
the Chairman of the Vijaya Bank who reportedly committed suicide over the exposure. He was
guilty of having issued checks to Mehta and knew the backlash of accusations he would have to
face from the public.
A few years later, Mehta made a brief comeback as a stock market expert and started providing
investment tips on his website and in a weekly newspaper column. He worked with the owners
of a few companies and recommended the shares of those companies only. When he died in
2002, Mehta had been convicted in only one of the 27 cases filed against him. What attracted the
taxman’s attention was Mehta's advance tax payment of Rs 28-crore for the financial year 1991-
92. Another eye-catcher was his extravagant lifestyle.
Journalist who exposes the BIGG-BULL:-
37. Ms Sucheta Dalal is an award-winning business journalist and author and her career is founded
on many newsbreaks, insightful analysis and high integrity. She has been a journalist for 25
years and was conferred the prestigious Padma Shri for journalism in 2006. The 'Padma Awards',
announced on the eve of India's Republic Day, are among the highest civilian awards in the
country and are conferred for distinguished service and excellence in various fields. She was
awarded the Chameli Devi Award instituted by the Media Foundation for excellence in
journalism, and Femina’s Woman of Substance award for her work on the Harshad Mehta scam
in 1992 and related writing.
Sucheta is a BSc. in Statistics from Karnatak College, followed up with a graduate and post
graduate degree in law (LLB and LLM) from Bombay University. Her journalistic career began
in 1984 with Fortune India, an investment magazine. She has subsequently worked with
Business Standard and The Economic Times and then went on to become Financial Editor of
The Times of India. She has been a columnist and consulting editor for The Indian Express
group until 2008. She is now a Consulting Editor for MoneyLIFE a personal finance fortnightly
(www.moneylife.in). Her columns are also published by various publications including the
Dainik Hindustan.
Sucheta's areas of interest are the capital market, investor related issues, consumer issues and the
infrastructure sector. She is well-known for her numerous investigative pieces in all these areas
38. and most notably for breaking the securities scam in 1992 which was India’s biggest financial
scandal until then.
She has co-authored a book on the securities scam with her husband DebashisBasu called The
Scam: Who Won, Who lost, who got away (1993). This book, which was a best seller that year,
has been revised, updated and re-released in 2001 and again in 2005 (It is now called The Scam:
From Harshad Mehta ToKetan Parekh). In March 2000, she wrote a biography of A.D.Shroff,
who was considered a financial genius in the 1950s. (Published by Viking books of
Penguin).Path breakers -- a book of 26 inspiring interviews with eminent Indians -- by Sucheta
Dalal and DebashisBasu was also released in July 2007.
Ms Dalal takes active interest in consumer and investor related issues. She has been a Member of
the Investor Protection and Education Fund set up by the Government of India under the
Department of Company Affairs and a member of the Primary Market Advisory Committee of
the Securities and Exchange Board of India. She is a Trustee of the Consumer Education and
Research Centre of Ahmedabad, which is among the largest consumer and investor advocacy
groups in India. She is also a Member of Bank of Baroda’s Standing Committee on consumer
services and on the board of Credibility Alliance, which is a consortium of voluntary
organisations committed towards enhancing accountability and transparency in the voluntary
sector through good governance.